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The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil,    but because of the people who don't do anything about it

Occupation magazine - Activism Home page  back Print  Send To friend Palestinian village of Susya tests citizen power Palestinian village Susya tests citizen power By Rabbi Arik Ascherman PUBLISHED: December 4, 2016 at 6:11 pm in the San Jose Mercury News Nobody knows what will be the policy of the next administration regarding human rights in the Occupied Territories. As a rabbi and co-founder of the Israeli interfaith NGO Haqel (The Field): Arabs and Jews in Defense of Human Rights, I believe in God’s power to work miracles in the human heart. I also know that we need to be prepared for the worst. While I can provide a long list of instances where the U.S. should have parlayed its friendship with Israel into more vigorous advocacy for human rights, there are instances where administrations from both parties have defended God’s Image in every human being. One example is Susya, an “unrecognized” Palestinian village in the South Hebron Hills in the Occupied West Bank. An Israeli settlement, also called Susya, was created nearby in 1983; Palestinians were expelled from their village in 1986. While the government and extremist groups argue there never was a village, photos, British documents and the 1982 report of the pro settlement government lawyer, Plia Albeck, prove they own village and agricultural land. I am proud of the legal work that Haqel is doing to preserve Susya, but Susya probably would not be standing today were it not for international concern led by the U.S., especially Sen. Dianne Feinstein. In August of 2015 Israel agreed to sit down with the residents of Susya, and significant progress was made. Today those discussions are frozen.The Israeli High Court reversed the expulsions, but didn’t address where the villagers would live. The Israeli army controls the planning process in the Occupied Territories, meaning that Palestinians had no chance of getting a master plan approved to legally build their homes. In 2011, settlers petitioned the High Court to order the army to demolish all the “illegal” structures. Later this month, the Israeli government is scheduled to respond to Palestinian Susya’s appeal. May the incoming administration redouble U.S. commitment to keeping Palestinian Susya residents in their homes on the land they own. This is where average citizens come in. The great interest shown by the U.S. and other governments is a direct result of constituents pressing their representatives to express concern on their behalf. This is our best hope to maintain U.S. engagement in keeping Palestinian villages standing. Citizens are also working to make these villages visible and give them back their identity. A local Bay Area organization, Rebuilding Alliance, noticed that Google Maps and Apple Maps show all the settlements in the West Bank absent hundreds of Palestinian villages. Rep. Anna Eshoo conveyed the missing GPS data files to Google, and Rep. Michael Honda encouraged Apple to fairly show what is really there. Just a few kilometers away, inside Israel proper, there are 35 “unrecognized” villages belonging to Bedouin citizens of Israel. Al Araqib has land purchase documents from 1906, but Israel demolished the village 105 times since 2010, intending to put a forest where beleaguered dwellings now stand. Citizen action can stop this. Demolition plans do not reflect the views of average Israeli citizens. Opinion polls show a clear majority of Israeli Jews believe that we must be fair to the Bedouin, recognize their villages, and not move them against their will because preserving the fabric of Israeli society is more important than fighting over every dunam of land. So I continue believing in the deep down goodness of my fellow Israelis. I hope they will act on their beliefs. In the Bible, God repeatedly promises Abraham that God will make his descendants into a great nation. However, in the same sentence, God explains that will happen when all humanity shares the blessing. Susya spokesperson Nasser Nawajeh once told me that when they were expelled in 1986 they were powerless because they were alone. He said, “We are again in great danger, but with one big difference. We are no longer alone.” It is in the power of Israeli, American, and world citizens to make sure that the Palestinian residents of endangered villages will never be alone. Rabbi Arik Ascherman is former executive director of Rabbis for Human Rights. He will speak at 7 p.m. Monday at the Fellowship Hall of First Christian Church, 80 S. 5th St., San Jose. He wrote this for The Mercury News. Links to the latest articles in this section Invitation: Sam Bahur and Mossi Raz speak online of annexation INVITATION: Two Talks on Annexation Palestine remembers the Freedom Flotilla - events at the ports of Jaffa and Acre